The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1887-12-06
HIS FORTUNE.
How It Was Made-A Story
Founded on Fact

"Helping a sick Mexican made my
fortune" said Tom Smith, otherwise
known as Hon. Thomas Smith, e1-Goy-
ernor and present millionaire. as he Int
a cigar. .sHowa Well, I'll tell you.
When was a youngster was poor as
poverty. and not seeing any opening,
struck out for the West. In those days,
1859, it was pretty wild. but l was
strong and willing to work. L made
nv way to a mining camp, got fair
claim and nitchn1 20 b1' conllorCd-
Ole, and [ saved what money could.
lone afternoon. when was coming
home. / found an old Mexican on the
trail just in front of my place. As far
as could see he was a very sick man.
] did not like observation-disclosures as
we called them-but for all that could
not let the old man die like dog in the
road. L helped him into the cabin,
gave him some water, for he was burn
ing up with fever, and divided my
small stock of quinine with him. To
make long story short, he got better.
and finally recovered. / think he was
the most grateful man / ever saw. 1t
turned out to be good thing for me.
He could not do much work, for he was
old and feeble; but he cooked, he kept
the place in order, mended and washed
the clothes, and generally made him.
self useful; and as for cost, his food did
not break me. We got to be pards
after awhile, and many long talk we
used to have. He was crazy about hunt
ing for buried treasures, and he had an
old map which he used to pore over by
the hour He talked so much about it
that finally got excited, and we agreed
to go and look for the place together.
So when spring came we got an outfit,
a couple of mules and SOME stores, and
started.
1.-The place we were going to was in
Arizona, near the ella river. In those
DAYS Arizona was almost an unknown
country, and the Indians had full pos
session of it. However, we made our
way eastward from Yuma, travelling
mostly at night or very early in the
morning, and at last we reached the
valley where the map said the money
was 1t was long, narrow place, COW
cred with ruins of houses, but without
any people that we saw. We travelled
mp the place looking for the spot where
the treasure was hidden. At last we
reached what we called the sign post,
tall shaft of rock separated from the
mountains and standing by itself. Here
we took an old house to live in, and be-
gan our search. The money was sup
posed to be in cave opposite the sign
post, and we hunted day after day for
week without any success.
81 began to get Disguised, and to
think that we had come upon a wild
goose kind of chase. but Juan-that
was the old fellows name-was sure
we would succeed. One day / was
coming down the side of the mountain,
which was very steep, when | slipped
and fell about ten feet. / struck on a
rock which was just on the edge of a
little precipice, and l suppose my
weight started it, for it tipped and fell.
Where it had been was round hole
cut i'm the solid rock of the mountain,
and about twenty feet deep. Calling
Juan to come up, we got a lariat, and
he lowered me down. At the bottom
there was a passage way, about six
feet high, leading into the mountain.
1--WE had candles with US, of course,
and getting some, We started in. The
drift or tunnel was about fifty feet long.
At the end it opened into large cham
Der, about thirty feet long by fifteen
wide, and ten high. It must have been
an awful amount of work TO cut this
out In the center of this, upon kind
of rude chair cut in the rock, was the
figure of man. How he had been pre-
served do not know, but he seemed
to be perfect, although considerably
shrunken up. Around his neck there
was sort of collar of gold nuggets; his
arms were covered with bracelets
above the elbows; and his legs were
ringed above the knees-all with the
same yellow metal. Around his head
was a plain gold band, with a round
knot in front, i'm which were stuck
three eagles feathers. You can not
imagine how queer, and at the same
time horrible, it all was. His eyes had
been taken out, and round Jumps OF
gold inserted, which gave him a ghost.
ly look. Across his knees was a war